How do you all stay awake during 2-3 hour lectures? I get enough sleep, but after just 40 minutes or so I literally cannot keep my eyes open!!!
RANT HERE thread
- Thread starter flyhi
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Ah yeah, about that. I did my own thing. Sat in the way back of the class and wrote notes on anything. Could it have been notes for that lecture? Yes. Could it have been different notes for a different lecture? Also yes.
If it's not working for you, don't force it. If you've got to figure something else out, then do it.
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I was the official chair kicker for the guy who sat in front of me first year. He’d literally start to nod off and his head would fall forward or back and occasionally he’d snore so he asked me to kick his chair from time to time.
I played a lot of candy crush while I listened. I did better with something to fiddle with between note taking. I mean the vast majority of what you need to know is in the PowerPoints so I’d just mark down what they emphasized and stuff. Unless a class didn’t use PowerPoints (and that guy didn’t even allow computers at all, but it’s been a long time so I doubt that would fly today) then different rules applied.
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My friend next to me was the elbow nudger for me 🥲 I struggled with this especially in 2nd and 3rd year. It was ROUGH. Would literally fall asleep WHILE actively writing.
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Clearly, I have no suggestions since I regularly struggled.
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I didn't actually have that many lectures that were that long, ours were usually 50 minutes. But when I needed to take a break to let my brain wake back up I
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This would never have happened to you if you'd just played WW during vet school like @Barkley13 and many others.
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whoa
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I don't recall ever having that long of a lecture, but for longer ones, honestly, I'd just get up, walk out of the classroom and walk around the halls for a few minutes then go back.
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Finding mat clothes is hard to begin with (esp when you are not a standard size - I’m super short and finding petite and maternity was rough).
Kindred bravely is bomb especially for nursing/pumping bras. Worked really well with my hands free pumps - I even saw consults in them sometimes and did surgery while pumping often. Macy’s was also helpful.
I’d maybe stay away from influencer content, or really any content of people who purposely put out content on social media about their pregnancy journey. Social media wise what I found helpful was DVMoms fb groups (there are some smaller subgroups if a bigger group isn’t helpful), which is full of vet moms who have been through it and have your back. I also went to an all women’s college with a really strong alum network so the pregnancy groups and parenting groups for alums was really helpful - there were a lot of peds, obgyns also going through pregnancy at the same time and offered a lot of support and expertise. I found joining groups with real people who are just getting by with their lives with similar stressors super helpful. Whatever issues you’re having, you’re bound to have others who have gone through it too. And these groups of moms typically take an evidence based approach you can trust.
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Girl do you think I didn’t???? 😂😂😂 my ass STILL fell asleep 🫠
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I actually placed an order for Kindred Bravely last night - I am in need of new bras regardless and they have a decent clearance sale going on now! I've stayed off TikTok since I made that last post, though. I'm detoxing!
2-3 hours!?!? No breaks in that? Our lectures were 50min, with 10min breaks in between. Our labs were several hours with no breaks but those have you taking a more active role so are easier to stay awake in of course. Even if we had a double lecture in a topic (or even triple, I think that happened too), we still did 50min blocks with 10min breaks.
Having something quiet to snack on when you start to get foggy can help. Or have a cold can of something ready (beer? white claw? diet coke? your choice! I don't judge
) to snap yourself back into reality. If you know you are a sleeper no matter what, sit in the back to save face. Or if you are sleeping to the point where there's no point in you being there, stay home and watch recordings (if this is an option, and you don't have attendance to worry about).We had a notorious class snoozer...he probably had a disorder honestly. It never failed, he truly slept every single day. He would be out cold within 10min of a lecture starting (or rounds!) and at times was a sleep-talker. Or would just totally slump over. We probably all had to nudge him awake at some point. Idk why he insisted on sitting so far in the front every year but he did. Somehow every clinician and instructor found it funny, so he was lucky....there were times when some other students dozed off and got called out in lecture. Which is then immortalized in the lecture recording, lol.
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by watching the recording after the fact on 2x speed
fauna
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ahh!! hadn't checked the thread in a while and come to find a lot of you guys are sharing the same experiences as me <3
i am rounding out week 2 of year 1 and, while it has definitely had a lot of surreal moments and i am so happy to finally be at this point, it has had some challenges too.
i'm ALSO having the problem of staying awake in lectures. we also have 50 min with 10 minute breaks but when i am on my last few of the day, i get soooo sleepy. especially physio-- i think watching after in 2x speed will be the key for that! also, in general, i prefer to just use the slides at my own pace because i am not much of an auditory learner anyway. the current strategy has been that i write my notes on the powerpoint before class, that way i have the time to visually organize it and mind-map it in a way that i like before class. during class, i drift in and out of focus but i try to take notes on anything that the prof says out loud that isn't in the slide. i also started drinking redbull again lmao.
there was also some discussion on being nervous about making friends and that's definitely the case for me as well. i am really good at getting along with people in class but making actual friendships is a bit of a challenge for me. it is still really early on so we will see! to rant a bit, some people are honestly so rude it is kind of surprising. you can see the cliques starting to form already and then they show up to all the social gatherings and kind of ice you out if you try to go say hi. so weird. i have made friends with my lab group though and they seem chill!
i am rounding out week 2 of year 1 and, while it has definitely had a lot of surreal moments and i am so happy to finally be at this point, it has had some challenges too.
i'm ALSO having the problem of staying awake in lectures. we also have 50 min with 10 minute breaks but when i am on my last few of the day, i get soooo sleepy. especially physio-- i think watching after in 2x speed will be the key for that! also, in general, i prefer to just use the slides at my own pace because i am not much of an auditory learner anyway. the current strategy has been that i write my notes on the powerpoint before class, that way i have the time to visually organize it and mind-map it in a way that i like before class. during class, i drift in and out of focus but i try to take notes on anything that the prof says out loud that isn't in the slide. i also started drinking redbull again lmao.
there was also some discussion on being nervous about making friends and that's definitely the case for me as well. i am really good at getting along with people in class but making actual friendships is a bit of a challenge for me. it is still really early on so we will see! to rant a bit, some people are honestly so rude it is kind of surprising. you can see the cliques starting to form already and then they show up to all the social gatherings and kind of ice you out if you try to go say hi. so weird. i have made friends with my lab group though and they seem chill!
100% would, but most professors don't record their lectures.
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I'm annoyed on your behalf. Even most medical school programs offer asynchronous lectures these days w/ the understanding that you are an adult learner, a literal Professional Student, and by this point in your education, you know how you learn best. Any time I actually went to lecture in-person I would still have to rewatch the recording later bc I couldn't keep up or would get distracted.
Godspeed, I personally wouldn't have survived vet school that way.
fauna
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we have mandatory attendance for in-person, synchronous lectures but thank GOD they are recorded and immediately uploaded. you also get x amount of absences that you can use for family events and things of that nature, as well as sick days on top of that. it definitely takes off some of the pressure and frustration when you are struggling through a difficult lecture, because you know you can go back and try to learn at your own pace afterwards.
i feel like not offering or allowing recording very quickly becomes an accessibility issue for a myriad of reasons. i know you can pursue accommodations for this sort of thing if you need to. but, i feel like by now most schools by figured out that it is something that everyone benefits from and if you just offer it to everyone, then it's less paperwork on their end.
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Unfortunately, there are a lot of professors who are very loud about how annoyed they are when there is low in-person lecture attendance. I get it; they work hard to prepare materials and they are professors because they like teaching/interacting with students, but at the end of the day, everyone's goal should be to get you to know the information so you can be a good doctor. Whether that's achieved in a lecture hall face-to-face or from your home in your pajamas, it shouldn't really matter.
Sure, there are students who might get into a downward spiral of skipping class and falling behind, but we're adults and there's some personal responsibility in that too. I think I attended about 1/2 a semester worth of in-person lectures in all of vet school and graduated in the top 1/3rd of my class. IMO the only downside for me was I don't have many close relationships with professors (also influenced by COVID era vet school), which could have been an obstacle if I was pursuing internship/residency etc.
